People exit bars along Sepulveda Blvd. in Hermosa Beach to view two 250-ton coke drums being transported from King Harbor in Redondo Beach to a Chevron refinery in El Segundo on Feb. 20. STEVE MCCRANK, THE DAILY BREEZE

Chevron coke drum project

What: Move six 250-ton coke drums 4.5 miles from King Harbor in Redondo Beach to Chevron Refinery in El Segundo. The drums, used in the production process for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, are 100 feet long, 28 feet in diameter and are carried on customized transporter with 32 axles and 128 tires.

Next moves: 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Feb. 27 and March 7.

Where: The drums came into Los Angeles Harbor in January, were transported by barge to King Harbor in early February. The route to the Chevron Refinery goes through Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and El Segundo.

Who: Chevron is paying the total cost; Plump Engineering in Anaheim plans and oversees the moves.

More info: cokedrumproject.com

Plump Engineering in Anaheim is in the process of moving six 500,000-pound coke drums to the Chevron fuel refinery in El Segundo. But for President Richard Plump such work is old hat.

"Once you've moved the Space Shuttle, the challenge isn't there," Plump said, laughing. "We have a proven process for protecting the road structures and underground utilities and rerouting traffic."

Plump's 35-employee company is an architecture and engineering firm. But eight years ago, Plump got a call from machinery mover Barnhart Crane & Rigging for help moving a gigantic pressure vessel. He accepted the job and wrote his own program for engineering design and road structure analysis.

The success of that project led to other large-scale moving projects at the San Onofre Power Plant, oil refineries and bridges. Sarens, the Belgian-based mover that transported the Space Shuttle Endeavour last October hired Plump on the recommendation of the Los Angeles engineering department.

"After the Shuttle, getting the Chevron job was a gimme," Plump said. His company has done other projects with Mammoet, the mover for the Chevron coke drums.

The Chevron job is a once-in-a-lifetime project, spokesman Jeff Wilson said. The coke drums used in the manufacture of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel at the El Segundo refinery were installed in 1968 ands are wearing out. The 28-foot-diameter replacement drums are so large that Chevron couldn't find a steel manufacturer in the United States that could make them.

The drums were made in Spain, transported by specialized cargo ships to Los Angeles Harbor, and then moved by barge to King Harbor in Redondo Beach.

The engineers had to plan for such factors as storm drains, traffic, from power lines and traffic signals, said Steve Wicklund, Plump's project manager.

Initially, the project called for moving the drums on streets for 23 miles from the Port of Los Angeles to the Chevron facility in El Segundo, but using a barge to haul them to King Harbor reduced the street trip to 4.4 miles, Wicklund said.

"This project here was pretty simple," Wicklund said.

The first trip on Wednesday went smoothly, he said. At 10 p.m. both sides of Pacific Coast Highway were closed between Herondo Street and Aviation Boulevard as six crews unbolted the traffic signals and raised them with a harness. Seven Highway Patrol officers escorted each drum.

Mammoet used two different transports. A self-propelled modular transporter that operates by remote control moved the drums from the harbor to Herondo Street and Pacific Coast Highway. This vehicle is particularly nimble through tight corridors, but CalTrans did not allow its use for most of the trip because the load weight had to be distributed more evenly. So Mammoet used a customized platform with 32 axles and 128 wheels. The truck and load weighed 865,500 pounds, according to Chevron.

The drums won't be installed in Chevron's coker units for another year, Wilson said. The preparation and major maintenance work will employ 1,000 to 3,000 workers for a few weeks or months. The refinery typically employs 1,200 to 1,400 full-time people. He wouldn't say how much the coke drum project costs.

The drums are key to the refinery's production of Chevron petroleum products that are 20 percent of the gasoline and diesel fuel used in Southern California and 40 percent of the jet fuel used at Los Angeles International Airport.

Related Links

People exit bars along Sepulveda Blvd. in Hermosa Beach to view two 250-ton coke drums being transported from King Harbor in Redondo Beach to a Chevron refinery in El Segundo on Feb. 20. STEVE MCCRANK, THE DAILY BREEZE
A helicopter flies by as the first two of six coke drums bound for El Segundo's Chevron oil refinery reaches Redondo Beach on Feb. 18. CHUCK BENNETT, THE DAILY BREEZE
People in Hermosa Beach take pictures as a 250-ton coke drum is transported from King Harbor in Redondo Beach to a Chevron refinery in El Segundo on Feb. 21. STEVE MCCRANK, THE DAILY BREEZE
The first two of six massive coke drums bound for El Segundo's Chevron oil refinery reached Redondo Beach on Feb. 18. The drums, made in Spain, will replace 1960s-era models in the refinery's coker unit. CHUCK BENNETT, THE DAILY BREEZE

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